Azernews.Az

By Rashid Shirinov

Health Minister Ogtay Shiraliyev signed a decree on improving the quality of medical services provided to patients with diabetes and accelerating measures to increase their effectiveness.

A working group was established in accordance with the order to enhance the implementation of the State Program on Diabetes for 2016-2020.

The document, in particular, approved the action plan of the working group to improve the efficiency and quality of medical services provided to patients with diabetes. It was also instructed to submit reports on the implementation of the plan to the Health Ministry on a regular basis.

In addition, the action plan includes improving the registration system of diabetics to provide them with medicines, and raising awareness about the principles of prevention and treatment of diabetes.

Diabetes is triggered by factors such as sedentary lifestyle, fast food and sugary drinks, and a number of other reasons. All forms of diabetes increase the risk of long-term complications. Adults with diabetes have a two- to three-fold increased risk of heart attacks and strokes.

The data by the Republican Endocrinology Center says that as for October 2017 more than 240,000 people in Azerbaijan have diabetes, and this is about 2.5 percent of population of the country. However, this is not the final statistics, since there many people who are unaware of their condition. The reason is that symptoms of diabetes can be so mild that they go unnoticed.

Today very few people around the world take adequate diabetes treatment, and almost 46 percent patients are still undiagnosed among the estimated 415 million adults living with diabetes across the globe.

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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov

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